Lynette Vinet

by Wild Eden Wicked

  Nick’s mouth fell open. “You’re joshing me, lad.”

  “No.”

  “Why would a lady like herself be staying there? Damon, tell me what you’ve done.”

  Damon began eating at last. He appeared unruffled, unmoved by the fact that Eden Flynn was staying in the cabin Shamus had lived in when he first started the mine. Its last inhabitant had been gone for five months. Nick wondered what Damon was thinking of to do such a thing to a delicately bred woman like Eden.

  “I’m testing her,” Damon admitted. “She came here of her own free will; now I’m going to see if she wants to stay here, or if she’s all talk. But I doubt she’ll be staying. The cabin isn’t any place for the likes of a lady, now, is it? I’m betting she gets her fill of the place, the mine, and New Zealand before she even learns of the existence of Castlegate.”

  “Your uncle would be ashamed of you, Damon. I’m ashamed of you.” At least Damon had the good grace to flush, a sign he wasn’t as hardhearted as he wanted Nick to believe.

  Damon nodded in agreement. “Aye, maybe he would be ashamed of me, but the gold-digging harlot he married took him in. She was no sooner in town today than Bert Carruthers was panting around her and bargaining for her favors. He knows what she is, now the whole town will know. Already she’s disrupted my life, but I won’t have her sashaying around Castlegate in her whore’s finery, selling her wares under my roof. Castlegate is mine, free and clear. Shamus deeded it to me before he left for San Francisco. Eden Flynn doesn’t own any part of this house, so she can stay where I put her.”

  “Ah, lad, you are a hard man.”

  “I’ve had to be hard, Nick,” Damon burst out. “You know why better than anyone.”

  “Tessa.” Nick’s voice was low but Damon heard him.

  “Aye. Tessa.”

  “Maybe the time’s come for you to forget her and continue with your life. You can’t live in the past forever. Find a woman, son, make a new start for yourself.”

  “I suppose you believe Eden Flynn is the woman for me. Wouldn’t that be just laughable for me to hook up with Shamus’s widow, a prostitute. Hell, Nick! Eden’s worse than Tessa ever was.”

  “I doubt that, but you can’t see what’s before your eyes, so you refuse to believe Eden isn’t what she seems. She’s a real lady, she is. And the poor girl has suffered. Haven’t you ever noticed how solemn her face is, how her eyes very seldom light up? She’s burdened under a great weight, I tell you. But I’m not blind like you, and I can see that the only time she gets a gleam in those green eyes of hers is when she looks at you. Eden Flynn is smitten with you—take my word on that.” Nick watched Damon closely, expecting a volatile reaction.

  “You’re right about that,” Damon agreed, calmly sipping his brandy. “I’ve already noticed she does get a certain look when she’s around me.”

  “Yeah, and you get a certain reaction, so don’t deny it.”

  “I won’t deny it. No matter what she is, Eden is a beautiful woman. A man would have to be made of stone not to desire her. And you know, Nick, I’ve been thinking about why she married Shamus and then came all this way. She wants respectability. She wants it bad enough to give up the lucrative trade she left behind.”

  “Then that says something about her good character, I’d think.”

  “Aye, it does.” Damon was almost affable now, and he began to eat with gusto. “I wonder what she’d do if she realized she wasn’t able to get that respectability—if the very weakness she fled from was placed before her and proved too much to resist. You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks, leopards not changing their spots—”

  “I know what I’d say,” Nick interjected, not sparing Damon an accusing gaze. “You’re determined to run her off by making her life intolerable.”

  “Don’t condemn me, Nick. You want to be convinced Eden Flynn has a heart of gold. Well, I’m going to prove once and for all that her interest is purely in gold. When she sees herself for the trollop she is, then I’ll be free of her. And good riddance, too.”

  Nick didn’t say anything else. Damon’s determination to be rid of Eden bordered on obsession. Or was it an obsession to possess her? Nick wondered if Damon even realized he’d already fallen under Eden’s spell. He couldn’t help but smirk. It would serve the young whippersnapper right to discover that fact for himself.

  ~~~

  Eden woke to an inky darkness. Getting off the small cot, she stumbled around hoping to find a lantern, but there wasn’t one. The dust in the room tickled her nostrils and she sneezed just as a flickering streak of light illuminated the cabin.

  “May God keep wahine well,” came a man’s lilting voice from the open doorway.

  “Oh, my!” Eden turned, unprepared for the sight of a Maori in native dress. Since arriving in New Zealand, she’d seen Maoris but not spoken to one except for the small boy who had helped her in Queenstown. The man peered at her in the soft glow of the light which emanated from the lantern in his hand. Except for a colorful loincloth, he wore only a large jade necklace. His hair was black and shiny and rather long. His complexion was a light-brown color, and when he smiled at her he showed straight white teeth.

  “Boss told me to bring a lantern,” he explained, entering only when Eden gestured him into the cabin. She graciously accepted the lantern and nearly groaned aloud at the dusty ill-kept room which the light illuminated.

  “I’m afraid I have a great deal of cleaning up to do.” Eden spoke aloud more to herself than to the Maori.

  “I can get you a broom and mop, Mrs. Flynn,” the man offered gallantly.

  “Would you? I’d appreciate it so much. I can’t stay here with this place looking so horrible. I don’t know how my husband and Mr. Alexander could abide living here without so much as a curtain on the window.”

  The man’s smile faded and Eden actually saw him blush. “I will get what you need. Are you hungry?”

  “I’m famished.”

  “I will bring you some food.”

  “What is your name?” she asked.

  “Tiku.”

  “Do you work for Mr. Alexander?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Flynn. I help him.”

  “Oh, then you must point out which house Mr. Alexander will be staying in now that I’m here.”

  “He, uh … he will show you himself when he returns. I’ll be back shortly.”

  Tiku spun around and departed before Eden could question him further. She was curious about Tiku. He didn’t look to be a full-blooded Maori and his accent was definitely British.

  Eden surveyed the cabin in the lantern light. It looked just as awful now as it had that afternoon. She wondered how Shamus had lived here, how Damon had. There were so few amenities, but men apparently didn’t need as much as women to be happy. She looked at the washtub, longing for a bath. But first there was work to be done.

  Tiku returned, bringing with him a tin plate of rice with pork and a large cup of a sweet-tasting juice. In no time at all Eden finished eating and turned her attention to cleaning the cabin with Tiku’s assistance. From a nearby well, Tiku filled a bucket with water for Eden, who promptly began to sweep, then mop the floor.

  The cleaning didn’t take as long as Eden thought it would. When she’d dusted what little furniture there was, she noticed Tiku waiting in the doorway with her trunk. “Mr. Nick brought this for you,” he announced.

  Eden was pleased to have her trunk but disappointed to learn from Tiku that Nick had already left. She thought this odd, for she’d thought Nick liked her. Even odder still was not having seen Damon for hours. She shrugged. Damon had made it very clear he didn’t intend to act as a nursemaid to her, so there was no reason for him to see if she ate, or even if she was still alive. Damon didn’t care about her. No doubt he’d crow with joy if she decided to leave Thunder Mine.

  I won’t give you the satisfaction, Damon Alexander. I’ll stay at Thunder Mine until I rot, she resolved.

  “You require something else,
Mrs. Flynn?” Tiku queried.

  Eden grinned. “Yes, a bath. Could you help me carry in the water from the well?”

  They went outside into the dark and loaded buckets with water, trudging back and forth from the well to the house until the wooden tub nearly overflowed. Assuring Tiku she wouldn’t need him for anything else that night and expressing her gratitude to him for his help, Eden rooted through her trunk until she found her white nightgown. She couldn’t wait to get out of her grimy clothes and bathe. It seemed like two months had passed instead of two days since she’d last had a bath. She looked forward to the moment when she could slip into the tub and forget all about Damon Alexander’s dislike of her.

  She washed her hair and body with violet-scented soap Shamus had bought for her in San Francisco. Settling deep into the tub, the soothing water loosened the tension in her muscles. What a great strain she’d endured since leaving Queenstown. Many people would have given up and not gone farther; as it was, the journey from Dunedin to Queenstown had been long and arduous. Most certainly anyone with sense would have canceled the journey after meeting a man as arrogant as Damon. Yet she’d endured his crossness and his insults. Now she was at Thunder Mine and determined to stay. Damon couldn’t do anything to force her to leave.

  On that self-congratulatory note, she must have dozed. It seemed hours passed but it was only minutes when she heard a noise and opened her eyes to see Damon standing over her.

  “I didn’t hear you knock.” Feeling flustered and embarrassed, she sank deeper into the tub until the water line reached just above her nipples. What had he seen when she’d been dozing? How long had he been watching her? Had he liked what he’d seen? She felt herself blushing to even think such wanton things.

  “I don’t knock to enter my own house,” he maintained, sitting on one of the wooden chairs by the table. Extending his long, booted legs in front of him, he didn’t take his cobalt gaze from her. She felt impaled with the heat of it.

  “You don’t live here now. I’d like you to leave.”

  “Would you, Eden, really?” His voice was low and melodious, containing a silken quality which caused her to shiver. “Or would you rather I’d stay and lift you from the tub and place your dripping-wet body against mine? I’ll bet you’d be nice and slippery in my arms, so wet and warm that your bottom would slide into the cradle of my hands.”

  His eyes held Eden captive. She felt unable to move, could scarcely breathe. Desire washed over her and lapped at her like the bathwater. She wanted to stop him from speaking, from conjuring up these wicked images floating inside her brain. But she couldn’t. She wanted to imagine.

  “And then,” she heard Damon say, “my fingers would massage your delectable flesh until you quivered with need, until you’d be gasping for release. And do you know what I’d do?”

  Eden’s throat had gone so dry, she could barely swallow. Tousled half-wet strands of hair covered her breasts and framed her face with wispy tendrils as she shook her head. She held her breath when Damon leaned toward her, very much aware of an ache between her legs, which was part pleasure and pain.

  “I’d do this.” His hand dove beneath the water and found the pulsating spot between her thighs, grasping it with a feather-light touch. “And then I’d lick you dry—all of you … every warm inch of you.”

  A ragged groan threatened to escape from Eden’s throat, but Damon prevented it when his mouth suddenly swooped down upon hers. Desire rippled through her every nerve cell, threatening to inundate her with delirious sensations she’d never known existed. What was happening to her? Why must Damon be the one to cause her this exquisite torment? Her mind posed these questions, but she couldn’t answer them. All she knew was that she wanted Damon’s complete possession.

  She was aware he was lifting her out of the tub and didn’t care. He was holding her wet and slick body against his, just as he’d said he’d do. His clothes grew wet. Beneath the material, his body burned like a bushfire with his growing need. His kiss deepened into a primitive plunder of her mouth and senses, his tongue finding hers.

  Eden nearly swooned from the torrent of need building within her. She was all too aware when his hands caressed her buttocks and pulled her against the hard bulge in his trousers. Her eyes widened and glazed over with her own desire. Having had no experience with any man, the sensual feelings were new to her and more wonderful than anything she could ever have imagined. Any qualms that Damon might not want her fled like a mist. She was ready to give him her heart and her body.

  When she found herself beneath him on one of the cots it seemed the most natural thing in the world. She reveled in his expert touch, his kiss. It was as if their being together had been preordained, almost as if Shamus had known they were destined for each other. How right and wonderful it felt when his lips traced a wanton path to her breasts to tantalizingly lick the water droplets from her heated flesh. She moaned and buried her hands within the depths of his hair.

  “Ah, Eden, you’ve built a fire in me,” he whispered in a ragged breath. He looked at her, his eyes glowing like twin bonfires. “I’ve wanted you since I first saw you on the street in Queenstown.”

  “You have?” It seemed almost unbelievable to Eden that a man of Damon’s pride should admit such a thing. His revelation touched her heart. Could it be possible he might love her? At this moment, she knew she loved him. Otherwise she wouldn’t be giving herself to him. Perhaps he no longer believed she was a whore or the gold digger he’d accused her of being. Oh, she hoped so! Since her mother’s death, she feared she’d cringe if a man touched her. But she craved Damon’s touch and didn’t think any other man could make her feel this way.

  She must love him and he must love her. He wanted her just as much as she wanted him. And so much wanting must mean love.

  “Aye, my beauty.” He kissed each of her nipples and cockily grinned when she moaned. “So you like that, do you?’’

  “Oh, yes, Damon. I do.”

  “Ah, Eden, you’re so beautiful and passionate. I like the way you writhe beneath me. I like everything about you.’’

  “I’m glad.” She spoke with heartfelt simplicity and stroked his cheek. She blushed when she said, “I’m in love with you. I know it’s a bit early to say it, but I do love you. And I’ll make you a good wife, if you’ll have me. No other man makes me feel like you do. I loved Shamus, but that wasn’t the same as this.”

  Love? Wife? What in the hell was she talking about? He looked at her, seeing an innocent-appearing woman. But he knew differently. All he wanted was to bed her, to prove to her she was a whore at heart, only out to claim a fortune she’d duped from a sick old man. And now he saw that the innocent facade hid a shifty creature who was trying to lure him into marriage—and then, no doubt, she planned to bilk him dry of his interests in the mine. Was there no end to this temptress’s manipulation?

  His face held a frozen look. “Just how many men have there been, Eden, love? Tell me. Did you count them? Were they all satisfied customers? But of course they’d be satisfied with a lying whore, stroking their pride and pretending to be an innocent. Was that how you got Shamus to marry you? Or did you withhold the sex until after you married him?”

  He was unprepared for her heartfelt slap and the stinging sensation it produced on his cheek. He should have expected she’d react this way. Eden clearly hated to hear the truth about herself.

  “My life with Shamus is none of your concern.” She pushed at him, freeing herself from him. Her green eyes held venom. If she’d been a snake, she’d have killed him with that look. “And as far as the other men I’ve known … well, let’s say that I lost count.” There were never any men, but she’d let him think the worst. Once again he’d nearly been her undoing and now she wondered if he had planned to seduce her. But no more. She was on to him now.

  Getting up, she reached for her gown and held the flimsy garment in front of her. “Get out of my cabin and don’t come back.”

  Damon didn’t
make a move. He leaned on his elbows, his cheek an angry red, and calmly smiled. “I’m not leaving my own home. This is where I live, where you’ll stay unless you can find another place. Either way, I don’t care. But I’m not letting some fancy woman throw me out of my own house.”

  Eden looked at him in dismay. “You can’t mean to stay here. It isn’t right or decent.”

  “Hah! You’re worried about decent? My God, woman, you nearly let me bed you, and now you’re concerned about decency. What about all the other men who’ve been with you? You didn’t care about being decent with them.”

  “I hate you!” she cried, and meant it because she thought he wanted to make love to her. “I’ll find someplace else to stay.” With that, she headed for the door and would have made it outside except Damon lunged off of the cot and grabbed her. He held her around the waist while she kicked at him, barely missing his shin.

  “Calm down, Mrs. Flynn, and act like an adult. You can’t go roaming around without your clothes on, and I won’t allow you to beg a place to stay from the people who work here. No matter what I think about you, you’re part owner of Thunder Mine. You’ll have no credibility whatsoever if you go off half-cocked.”

  Eden smothered a frustrated sob. Damon was right, as much as she hated to admit it. No one would give her a chance to prove herself. But why did he warn her? This would have been the perfect way to be rid of her. “If I embarrass myself enough, then you’d be free of me. Why do you care if no one takes me seriously?”

  Damon wasn’t certain, either. But he couldn’t allow Eden, no matter who or what she’d been, to disgrace his uncle’s name publicly. What she did in private was another matter, and what she did with Damon Alexander in private was definitely for his own eyes and ears alone. “Get your nightgown on,” he commanded in a voice much harsher than he intended. He released her and found a rope in the corner. He began stringing it from one wall to the top of the doorway, until it hung between the two cots. Then he took a large blanket and hung it over the rope.

  “For your privacy, madam. I’ll sleep on one side of the blanket and you the other. It will be as decent as you want it.”